Brooklyn-based composer and pianist Timo Andres performs two of the Philip Glass Etudes, and nerds out about his work on a new special edition of the Philip Glass Piano Etudes. Pioneering composer and pianist Philip Glass is considered to be one of the founding fathers of minimalism - or as Glass describes it, “music with repetitive structures.” His hypnotic, meditative work has had a profound influence across modern American music and stretched the borders of contemporary classical music. Philip Glass has said that “writing a piece is a lot quicker than learning a piece” – and his Etudes are a group of works originally written by Glass to improve his own piano playing. For this New Sounds, Brooklyn-based composer and pianist Timo Andres performs some of these Etudes, and describes how he has been involved in the Philip Glass Etude project, a beautiful box set of 20 folios, each with an accompanying essay. In the process, Andres and host John Schaefer go down a rabbit hole of comparison performances and reflect on this group of works. Listen to Etude No. 2, Etude No. 5, and Etude No. 6 – what Timo Andres describes as the “toccata etude”, a piece with repeated notes – in several different recordings as Andres observes how Philip Glass’ scores leave a lot open to the interpreter. While there are tempo markings on the scores, but for whatever reason, perhaps in the tradition of Philp’s own playing and his embrace of so many interpretations, people tend to take a very flexible approach to his works. And as Timo says, Philip himself, “takes quite a lot of liberty with his own music.” - Caryn Havlik Program #4823, Geeking Out On Glass With Timo Andres (First aired 12/06/2023) ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [:30]RECORDING: Live, at Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/ ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [4:31]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/ ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [4:31]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/ ARTIST: Christopher O'RileyWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [1:00]RECORDING: Live, WNYC FM 50th Anniversary, 6/13/94 Allice Tully Hall | WNYC Commissions Volume 1SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/ ARTIST: Vanessa WagnerWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [1:00]RECORDING: Study Of The InvisibleSOURCE: InFiné MusicINFO: https://vanessa-wagner.bandcamp.com/album/study-of-the-invisible ARTIST: Maki NamekawaWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [1:00]RECORDING: Glass: The Complete Piano EtudesSOURCE: Orange MountainhINFO: https://philipglass.bandcamp.com/album/philip-glass-the-complete-piano-etudes ARTIST: Simone DinnersteinWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [1:00]RECORDING: A Character of QuietSOURCE: Orange MountainINFO: https://philipglass.bandcamp.com/album/a-character-of-quiet ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [4:33]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/ ARTIST: Philip GlassWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 / (fka Prelude No. 2) [5:08]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, July 1995SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/ ARTIST: Vanessa WagnerWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 [1:11]RECORDING: MirroredSOURCE: InFiné MusicINFO: https://vanessa-wagner.bandcamp.com/album/mirrored ARTIST: Lisa MooreWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 [:51]RECORDING: Mad RushSOURCE: Orange Mountain Music OMM0099INFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube Music ARTIST: Jeremy DenkWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 [1:21]RECORDING: Jeremy Denk c. 1300 -c. 2000SOURCE: NonesuchINFO: www.nonesuch.com ARTIST: Víkingur Ólafsson, Siggi String QuartetWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 (Reworked By Christian Badzura) [1:28]RECORDING: Philip Glass: Piano WorksSOURCE: Deutsche GrammophonINFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube Music ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 5 [8:20]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/
Brooklyn-based composer and pianist Timo Andres performs two of the Philip Glass Etudes, and nerds out about his work on a new special edition of the Philip Glass Piano Etudes.
Pioneering composer and pianist Philip Glass is considered to be one of the founding fathers of minimalism - or as Glass describes it, “music with repetitive structures.” His hypnotic, meditative work has had a profound influence across modern American music and stretched the borders of contemporary classical music. Philip Glass has said that “writing a piece is a lot quicker than learning a piece” – and his Etudes are a group of works originally written by Glass to improve his own piano playing.
For this New Sounds, Brooklyn-based composer and pianist Timo Andres performs some of these Etudes, and describes how he has been involved in the Philip Glass Etude project, a beautiful box set of 20 folios, each with an accompanying essay. In the process, Andres and host John Schaefer go down a rabbit hole of comparison performances and reflect on this group of works.
Listen to Etude No. 2, Etude No. 5, and Etude No. 6 – what Timo Andres describes as the “toccata etude”, a piece with repeated notes – in several different recordings as Andres observes how Philip Glass’ scores leave a lot open to the interpreter. While there are tempo markings on the scores, but for whatever reason, perhaps in the tradition of Philp’s own playing and his embrace of so many interpretations, people tend to take a very flexible approach to his works. And as Timo says, Philip himself, “takes quite a lot of liberty with his own music.” - Caryn Havlik
Program #4823, Geeking Out On Glass With Timo Andres (First aired 12/06/2023)
ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [:30]RECORDING: Live, at Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/
ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [4:31]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/
ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [4:31]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/
ARTIST: Christopher O'RileyWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [1:00]RECORDING: Live, WNYC FM 50th Anniversary, 6/13/94 Allice Tully Hall | WNYC Commissions Volume 1SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/
ARTIST: Vanessa WagnerWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [1:00]RECORDING: Study Of The InvisibleSOURCE: InFiné MusicINFO: https://vanessa-wagner.bandcamp.com/album/study-of-the-invisible
ARTIST: Maki NamekawaWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [1:00]RECORDING: Glass: The Complete Piano EtudesSOURCE: Orange MountainhINFO: https://philipglass.bandcamp.com/album/philip-glass-the-complete-piano-etudes
ARTIST: Simone DinnersteinWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [1:00]RECORDING: A Character of QuietSOURCE: Orange MountainINFO: https://philipglass.bandcamp.com/album/a-character-of-quiet
ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 6 [4:33]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/
ARTIST: Philip GlassWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 / (fka Prelude No. 2) [5:08]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, July 1995SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/
ARTIST: Vanessa WagnerWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 [1:11]RECORDING: MirroredSOURCE: InFiné MusicINFO: https://vanessa-wagner.bandcamp.com/album/mirrored
ARTIST: Lisa MooreWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 [:51]RECORDING: Mad RushSOURCE: Orange Mountain Music OMM0099INFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube Music
ARTIST: Jeremy DenkWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 [1:21]RECORDING: Jeremy Denk c. 1300 -c. 2000SOURCE: NonesuchINFO: www.nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Víkingur Ólafsson, Siggi String QuartetWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 2 (Reworked By Christian Badzura) [1:28]RECORDING: Philip Glass: Piano WorksSOURCE: Deutsche GrammophonINFO: Available at Amazon.com, AppleMusic, Spotify, YouTube Music
ARTIST: Timo AndresWORK: Philip Glass: Etude No. 5 [8:20]RECORDING: Live, WNYC, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://philipglass.com/compositions/etudes/